Inspiration, ideas and information to help women build public speaking content, confidence and credibility. Denise Graveline is a Washington, DC-based speaker coach who has coached nearly 200 TEDMED and TEDx speakers--including one of 2016's most popular TED talks. She also has prepared speakers for presentations, testimony, and keynotes. She offers 1:1 coaching and group workshops in public speaking, presentation and media interview skills to both men and women.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

There are plenty of professions, meetings and situations where you'll find yourself the only woman in the room. Many times, you'll get the sense right away that being the "other" in a group is uncomfortable, without the shared experience you might expect from a room with women in it. Take these factors into consideration to establish and hang on to your credibility:

Target the decision-maker: When you're presenting, make sure you know who's the decision-maker in your audience and gear your remarks in their direction. If you can establish yourself with that person, you're 99 percent of the way there. Too many work presentations fail to do this, whether by men or women. Make it clear you know the score.

Find out what you do have in common with the guys: You may be the "other" when it comes to gender, but that doesn't mean you don't share experiences or expertise to which the group can relate. Use your commonalities to establish your cred.

Know your personality preference: If you've taken the Myers-Briggs assessment (or a similar one), you can find out whether you prefer a more analytic style of processing information--more typical of men than women--or an emotional approach to information, more typical of women. Factoring your personality preference and style into your presentation will only help you communicate more clearly.

How do you establish your cred when you're the only woman in the room? Leave word in the comments.

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